Which gear to buy

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Which gear to buy

Postby mhz » Thu Jul 05, 2018 8:56 am

Hi All,
I have recently decided to move over to distilling after years of brewing.
I have a small amount of knowledge but am quickly learning I know very little about distilling at all.

There is so much confusing and conflicting information out there and I just don't know where to start.
I am looking for a beginners setup to start distilling.
I like Gin, Whiskey and Rum.

Some people have told me to go for the T500 as a beginner setup, but then others have told me you are very limited can only use these with essences to essentially turn a 'vodka' or white spirit into whiskey or rum.

I really don't want to go down the essence path, I would like to make some high quality spirits like the top shelf stuff I enjoy drinking.

Any help on gear to start off with would be appreciated. I am also trying to wrap my head around the name/terminology of the equipment so bear with me if I get confused.

Thanks
mhz
 
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby Nathan02 » Thu Jul 05, 2018 9:02 am

You want to build a copper pot still mate with a shotgun condenser, 50L keg boiler, heated by electric and output controlled with a voltage controller. You can build them very cheap if you shop for parts smart. Dig into the numerous pot still builds for ideas. Pot stilled rum is bold and delicious. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby warramungas » Thu Jul 05, 2018 9:44 am

Welcome and have a good read through the forum before you decide to do anything. Different spirits require different stills and there are different stills in each category.
Cant stress to read the beginners section enough before you do anything.
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby Doubleuj » Thu Jul 05, 2018 10:34 am

Hi MHZ, I moved your post to the welcome centre as it’s your first :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Welcome to the forum
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby Professor Green » Thu Jul 05, 2018 11:17 am

Welcome to AD mhz.

You have, unfortunately chosen to make spirits across a the full range of styles so suggesting a single still for the job is going to be difficult without going for a full blown modular affair.

For whisky and rum or "brown spirits" as they're known, you'll need either a pot still or a plated column (bubbler) with up to 4 plates. For Gin, you'll need a plated column with apacked section to make the neutral base, then either a pot still for heavier gins or a column with a botanical basket for lighter vapour infused gins.

What kind of budget do you have? If you have cash to splash, a 4" modular bubbler like the FSD neutraliser will give you everything you need to make pretty much any kind of spirit you want to make. Add in a botanical basket or carter head and you'll be set for light gins too. Pop that lot on a 50 litre boiler (milk can or converted keg) and you'll never want for anything else.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money then there are other options open to you. Are you handy with tools?

Cheers,
Prof.Green.
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby mhz » Thu Jul 05, 2018 12:30 pm

At the moment I'm looking to budget around the $1k mark.
It doesn't need to be any large, would prefer to start small and work my way up.
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby Professor Green » Thu Jul 05, 2018 12:55 pm

OK. that's a reasonable starting budget but you might need to make some initial concessions and perhaps work towards the end result.

Rather than jump to gin straight away, you could probably get yourself a nice basic 4" modular pot on a 50 litre boiler for that money and then add the rest of the components for a 4" bubbler as you can afford them. This would get you making great whiskies and rums straight away and also get you very good start in the art of distilling.

How much room to you have to devote to distilling? This will determine what size of still you're able to run. If you're limited for space (and height) then we'll need to think smaller.
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby mhz » Thu Jul 05, 2018 12:59 pm

I have a 2.5 car space garage that I was wanting to utilise.

Are you able to provide me with any links on where to buy this gear from you recommend?
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby Professor Green » Thu Jul 05, 2018 3:05 pm

The best place is 5 Star however they're currently going through a transition so the web site is offline whilst they rejig things.

What's the ceiling height in the garage?
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby mhz » Thu Jul 05, 2018 3:05 pm

Also if anything I would prefer to start off with Gin. The missus is a gin drinker and as I have to convince her on the new purchase some quality Gin would seal the deal
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby mhz » Thu Jul 05, 2018 3:08 pm

I would assume its a standard size garage ceiling. It's a ceiling roof, so the roof truss isn't exposed.
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby Professor Green » Thu Jul 05, 2018 3:42 pm

A set up for gin on that budget my be difficult to to achieve as you'll need some sort column for the neutral and probably a pot for the gin unless your happy to try your hand at a steeped gin instead of a distilled gin. Perhaps a 2" boka AND a 2" pot still may fit the bill if you can stretch your budget a tad further. Your best bet will be to PM either Wazzza or Andrew and see what they can come up with to fit your needs and budget.

You could keep an eye out in the for sale section here, stills come up for sale all the time and you can quite often pick up a bargain.
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby Wobblyboot » Thu Jul 05, 2018 5:00 pm

If you are handy with tools then I’d make a simple 2” pot still with lieberg on a 50l keg, run it on a 3ring gas burner and would cost about $300 to make depending where in oz u live. U could make whiskey and rum on it, buy that polish 96% spirit from Murphy’s to make the occasional gin for the missus :handgestures-thumbupleft: then if u decide the hobby is for u then upgrade to a bubbler, otherwise it’s a big initial outlay :-B
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby RC Al » Thu Jul 05, 2018 5:52 pm

Plated Stills are really cool and look fantastic, but each type of still has a job its good at
A packed reflux column is king at making neutral
A pot still will strip washes fast (at a lower ABV) and retain lots of flavour, a second run is required for flavoured whiskey n rums, sometimes used on neutrals as a fist strip
A plated column (bubble caps or sieve plates) is great for putting out a single run high abv flavoured drink, speed and number of plates are used determine flavour and abv mix
A plated column can then have a packed section added above it to produce a neutral, the packed section needs to be of a smaller diameter than the lower plates to work well - the power required to keep a 2" packed section happy is similar to a 4" plates requirements for example. This also means your producing neutral at a faster rate than if you just used a 2" column (see below), but nowhere near what you would get out of a 4" packed column

All of them get an speed and abv benefit from having a larger VOLUME (diameter) packed section, thumper or bubble ball under them as appropriate for power requirements

I would think you would need a pretty tuned palette to pick the difference between double pot stilled flavoured product and a single run plated still product

Booze for thought :-B

Edit - I agree with PG except id go bigger on the boka 2 1/2" or 3" will put out a lot more product. Its pretty much impossible to beat a keg boiler for value unless you get given something
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby Lowie » Thu Jul 05, 2018 8:43 pm

:greetings-waveyellow:
If it's Gin to keep "er indoors" happy, then that's what you should do for starters mate. Once you get into it (like your brewing) you will find yourself going down all sorts of rabbit holes chasing the perfect brew. When she's happy, you will start adding to your "collection" and she won't care. I'm speaking from a little bit of experience....Don't waste your hard earned's on a T500 - you will regret it later (unless of course you can pick up a second hand one cheap). Think about setting yourself up with a basic pot still - check the for sale section (modular if you can so you can add to it later), make some neutral (TPW, or my favourite, Teddys FFV), then macerate (chuck the gin ingredients in a jar with some 65% neutral that you have made with the pot still - you will find out how to do this in the recipe section) and strain through a coffee filter, water down to 40% and you're away :handgestures-thumbupleft: One thing about these forums, we all have our own way of doing things...Cheers.
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby hoddo59 » Thu Jul 05, 2018 9:58 pm

Hi MHZ and welcome. Don't dismiss buying secondhand from gumtree or the like. I've just recently bought a secondhand T500 with a heap of other gear. Demijohns, washbuckets, SS filters, heat belts, a large carboy, bits and pieces that you need to outlay for to get you going. Cost to buy at your local HBS around $1500 and cost me just over $500. Plan to teach myself some basics on the T500 and then upgrade. Worth thinking about anyway. cheers Hoddo
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby Sam. » Thu Jul 05, 2018 10:08 pm

No matter what you start with if your serious with this hobby you will end up with a modular plated column from 5 Star end of story :music-deathmetal:
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby JayTee » Thu Jul 05, 2018 10:48 pm

Completely agree with Sam. I've started off with a T500 plus copper column and copper alembic dome too. This was just before I found this forum! The point is, the T500 column is only good for making neutral spirit. If you want to turn this into gin, the way I did it was to use the SS botanical basket within the alembic dome (as a second distillation). The alembic dome makes good rum too but the T500 boiler is over-powered for brown spirits and you would need a phase angle controller to modulate the voltage. Then it makes good rum. This is well and good, but you need an lot of equipment to cover the bases.

Your cash would be better spent on a modular system that meets your needs.
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby mhz » Fri Jul 06, 2018 10:09 am

Wow, thanks a lot guys for all the info.
So many options and so much I need to get my head around.

I am still grappling with the terminology or everything.
I was originally under the impression that a still was the whole setup, but now I am seeing/hearing terms such as still, boiler etc, so I may need a little further explanation there or a link in the right direction.

I would rather put a little extra into whatever I buy to ensure it is future proof for me, rather than say buying a T500 which may limit what I am able to do in the future.
I originally was aiming for the T500 after speaking with various people and visiting a local brew shop who sold them, but it seems I would be limited as to what I could make with it.

Ok, that being said, I suppose what you guys are telling me I should look at is a modular setup?
What are my choices here and where can I get them from for a reasonable price? Five Star seems to be the direction some of you are pointing me to.
What sort of $$ am I looking at for a setup from Five Star?

I am assuming that most of the gear will need connect to a keg/boiler?
Again sorry if I am mixing terms up here.


I can't conatct Wazza or Andrew on here as I believe I need to have a certain amount of posts before I can PM people.
And for the record I am not handy with tools in any way, I work in IT.
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Re: Which gear to buy

Postby Professor Green » Fri Jul 06, 2018 11:26 am

Just 4 more posts and you'll be able to use the PM system. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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